Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Review: Mercy Blade

Reviewed by Jen

Faith Hunter has done it again: kept me at the edge of my seat, sending me on a journey of twists and turns through the latest installment in her Jane Yellowrock series, Mercy Blade.

Our story picks up shortly after Blood Cross ended. Jane is now in a relationship with NOPD cop Rick LeFleur. And she has decided to move to New Orleans, for at least the next six months, to work as a security consultant for Master Vampire of the City, Leo. Jane is crazy about Rick, but things aren’t perfect between them. He doesn’t know she is a shapeshifter and they don’t get to spend much time together because of some secret assignment he is working for the police.

The big news here is that the were-creatures of the world have decided to come out of the closet. And Leo is staging talks with the were-cats. Jane is to handle security for the big event. Leo has a long history of bad blood with the were-wolves, however. He sends Jane to meet with a mysterious man at a bar –to give him the message to leave town. When she gets there, though, it’s full of werewolves and she mistakenly delivers the message to them. They would have killed her if Gee (the true mystery man) hadn’t stepped in and saved her.

Like with every book in this series so far, there is so much going on. Rick goes missing… leaving Jane to question if he’s in danger, if he’s undercover, and/or if he is blowing her off. There is layer upon layer of intrigue surrounding vamp politics and where the weres fit in. And let’s not forget Bruiser, Leo’s human servant. There is something very, very hot going on between him and Jane. There is still no on-page sex to speak of, but these two absolutely sizzle when they are together. Just one dance scene between them generates enough heat to make you melt.

As much as I enjoyed it… and I really did… I have to point out that I need a little help getting excited about Rick. For two books in a row, we’ve been treated to close-call encounters between Jane and Bruiser. But we haven’t seen that betwen Jane and Rick. We’ve had narrative saying more has happened, but it’s all off page. I’m not saying Bruiser is right for Jane. All of her reservations about him are warranted, but I do wish the author would help me out in rooting for Rick as a HEA. The closest we’ve had to a love scene with him was with the mayor’s wife in book one.

There are many revelations –especially in the second half of the book. All of them make perfect sense, but I didn’t see any of them coming.(I won’t spoil you, though.) And the very last line opens the door to huge possibilities in the next book. If you are a Jane Yellowrock fan, you won’t want to miss this one. 5 stars.

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About Me

The first step in handling addiction is admitting you have a problem. I know I love my books just a little too much and I'm working on creating some kind of 12 step program to deal with it. Urban Fantasy and Romance are my favorites. I'm also a mother of two and work full-time as a tv news Executive Producer.